Joe Pesci IN 1990, the year he scared everybody in GOODFELLAS. Something to notice. The "Am I funny" scene is practically his first appearance in the movie. Pesci managed to scare people before they knew the character was crazy. They just looked at Pesci and understood.

Photo: Time & Life Pictures, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Joe Pesci IN 1990, the year he scared everybody in GOODFELLAS....

Joe Pesci IN 1990, the year he scared everybody in GOODFELLAS.... Photo-6358389.86501 - SFGate

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Bruce Davison will always be remembered for the pivotal scene in LONGTIME COMPANION (1990), the "Let go" scene, which, once seen, is never forgotten.

Jack Benny in 1942, the year he starred in "To Be Or Not to... Photo-6358398.86501 - SFGate

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Actors Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo attend "The Artist" Photocall at the Palais des Festivals during the 64th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2011 in Cannes, France. He captured the quality the silent stars had, an innocent exuberance, as though nothing bad could ever happen to them.

Two bird with one stone here: Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum in a scene of the noir movie 'Out of the Past', from 1947, directed by Jacques Tourneur. This became one of the iconic Mitchum performances, but Douglas was great, too -- genuinely menacing as a gangster, even though he never does anything bad in the entire movie.

Photo: Mondadori, Mondadori Via Getty Images

Two bird with one stone here: Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum in...

Two bird with one stone here: Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum in... Photo-6358404.86501 - SFGate

Cary Grant in SUSPICION (1941) -- one of the great performances of the 1940s. He plays a man who may or may not be planning to kill his wife. He is seductive and engaging, but he never makes you comfortable.

Photo: File

Cary Grant in SUSPICION (1941) -- one of the great performances of...

Cary Grant in SUSPICION (1941) -- one of the great performances of... Photo-6358408.86501 - SFGate

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Warren William in "Bedside." The amazing Warren William played a series of charlatan-heroes in the pre-Code years, but none quite so outlandish as in this film, in which he fakes his medical license, sets up a Park Avenue practice and starts operating on people.

Humphrey Bogart (with Gloria Grahame) in IN A LONELY PLACE (1950), which features him in one of his best (and most atypical) performances. So much of what Bogart did in his brief dozen or so years of stardom is unforgettable, including CASABLANCA, THE BIG SLEEP and KEY LARGO.

Al Pacino in DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975). Remarkable. But then so much of Pacino's work is unforgettable -- the "Godfather" movies (even III), "Serpico," "And Justice for All," "Sea of Love," "The Merchant of Venice" . . .

Fabrice Luchini toned down his natural loquaciousness to star as a shy accountant in the wonderful INTIMATE STRANGERS (2004), co-starring Sandrine Bonnaire. Here they are at an awards ceremony. Luchini in his more animated mode is just as great. See him in BEAUMARCHAIS and LA DISCRETE.

Fredric March specialized in inner torment and gives one of his great performances in MERRILY WE GO TO HELL (1932), as a playwright struggling with alcoholism and dragging his young wife through the gutter. See him similarly tormented in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK.

Fredric March specialized in inner torment and gives one of his...

Fredric March specialized in inner torment and gives one of his... Photo-6358426.86501 - SFGate

James Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). And in so many other films, including WINCHESTER 73, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, VERTIGO, ANATOMY OF A MURDER . . .
Photo Credit Columbia Pictures/ Chronicle File

Richard Barthelmess was the Robert Redford of the early thirties, an actor with a unique contract -- he could make whatever movie he wanted -- and chose to make movies with a social purpose. THE LAST FLIGHT (1931) showed him at his best, as a WWI veteran too emotionally damaged to go home.

Photo: File

Richard Barthelmess was the Robert Redford of the early thirties,...

Richard Barthelmess was the Robert Redford of the early thirties,... Photo-6358430.86501 - SFGate

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Robert Redford in 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), arguably the best of Redford's Americana series, thought of as just a good thriller at the time.

Photo: Amazon.com

Robert Redford in 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), arguably the best of...

Robert Redford in 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), arguably the best of... Photo-6358431.86501 - SFGate

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Robert Williams had the worst luck in Hollywood history. At 37, he finally had his big break in PLATINUM BLONDE (1931), and he's great in it. Freewheeling, inspired, odd, original and definitely bound for stardom. But he died from a burst appendix three days after the premiere.

Robert Williams had the worst luck in Hollywood history. At 37, he...

Robert Williams had the worst luck in Hollywood history. At 37, he... Photo-6358432.86501 - SFGate

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Tom Hanks won Oscars for his other work, but to me this is the Hanks role -- in SAVING PRIVATE (1998) -- in which he embodies all that is decent in modern America, transposed to 1944. He's just as good in last year's CAPTAIN PHILLIPS.

Tom Hanks won Oscars for his other work, but to me this is the...

Tom Hanks won Oscars for his other work, but to me this is the... Photo-6358433.86501 - SFGate

American film director and actor Woody Allen in a scene from his film 'Manhattan,' 1979. One of his best. But Woody Allen has been memorable in many of his films -- SLEEPER, ANNIE HALL, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, SCOOP . . .

Photo: Brian Hamill, Getty Images

American film director and actor Woody Allen in a scene from his...

American film director and actor Woody Allen in a scene from his... Photo-6358438.86501 - SFGate

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Robert Downey, Jr. in his tour de force, TWO GIRLS AND A GUY (1997). Writer-director James Toback has said that Downey in this film was not only the best he ever was but the best he ever could be. He's probably right.

Photo: HO

Robert Downey, Jr. in his tour de force, TWO GIRLS AND A GUY...

Robert Downey, Jr. in his tour de force, TWO GIRLS AND A GUY... Photo-6358439.86501 - SFGate

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Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954) -- Jean Gabin was wonderful as an old gangster forced to clean up his partner's mess. See him here -- and in anything he did between 1935 and 1940, particularly PORT OF SHADOWS. He was one of the greats.